Are Leaders Born OR Made?

Comments (0)

Transcript of Are Leaders Born OR Made?

Are Leaders Born OR MAde?So… are Leaders Born or Made?Why not both?

Leaders Are BornLeaders Are MadeWHAT DO YOU THINK?CHOOSE A SIDESUMMARYKristy: brain activation & a possible leadership geneLouise: environmental and contextual factorsDavina: making a newspaper pig and learning about the leadership potential of the classLuisa: best of both worlds and important practical implications

3 volunteers from each groupObjective: Form a pig, complete with a face, body, legs and tail) out of newspaper in 5 minutes or less

LEADERSHIP ACTIVITYLeaders are born then made

Lets put 5 minutes on the clock…

“The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born — that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.” —Warren G. Bennis

“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” —- Vince Lombardi

PRIME INFLUENCES

Kristy : Genetic Pre-Determination

Louise : Prime Influencing Factors

Davina : Group Activity

Luisa : Synthesis

Overview(Farlow, 2012), (Strategic Direction, 2008)

(Farlow, 2012)

Unemployment of the “breadwinner”/ Absence of a father figure

These children attempt to become fantasized father figures in a compensatory effort.24 British Prime Ministers (66% had lost a father in Childhood)Great Depression: had to assume responsibility at an early age = these children assumed leadership/management roles years after.

First born children/children perceived as gifted by parents are expected to be role models. (Grow up feeling that taking responsibility and exerting influence on others are their natural roles, which become part of their identity.)

Born leader - Leadership qualities are innate or genetic and thus impossible to learn.

Made leader–- The is a specific set of skill set that a person has had to acquire. We all have leadership potential.

Lets look at it closer…

NATURENURTUREOrganizations are engaged in a competitive environment and need the right kind of leadership to survive.

Organizations with effective leaders tend to:InnovateRespond to changes in the environmentCreatively address challengesSustain high performance.

(Amagoh, 2009)

Implications for Organizations

Focus on recruiting and selecting applicants with leadership potential and motivation to leadDesign and implement a comprehensive and systematic leadership development program that integrates into the organizations culture. Should have a long term focus.

(Amagoh, 2009)Organizations should.. “Passion, humility, communication skills, negotiation ability, self-determination, innovative mindset are a mix of personality traits with leadership learned skills that being most of them innate and inherent to the emotional profile and personality of an individual, can be improved by proper training and experience in the workplace”. O. Ballesta

“Leadership is a set of skills that can be learned over time. However, you need some in-born talent or “pre-determination” to master the skill.” G. Krstulovic

“Gifted leaders are born with certain supporting traits like patience, perseverance, ability to change. They might have the required traits more than others. But without motivation to lead and continuous training, they will never get to lead” O. Lawrence

“There are traits that some people possess, which may help them become very good leaders, but their actions and implementation decides if they grow up to become good leaders or not” M. Mitra

GENETIC ASSOCIATION STUDY( De Neve et al., 2013)4,000 Participants National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health & the Framingham Heart StudyGenotype: RS4950Specific DNA sequence associated with the tendency for individuals to occupy leadership positions and generational passing down of leadership abilities ¼ of variance in leadership behaviours can be explained by genes passed down from parentsResults: significant association with genotype and leadership, measures on whether individuals held a supervisory role in workplace

(Hannah et al., 2013)103 US Military Officers (87 Male, 16 Female)

Quantitative electroencephalography scans (qEEG)

Leadership self-complexity (LSC) is formed through experiential social learning as leaders establish roles and role sets to meet leadership task demands in a general domain.

Neural networks in the frontal and prefrontal lobes of those deem leaders (Majors) were different from the rest

Areas of brain associated with self-regulation, decision making & memory

Tested leadership and decision-making abilities in a hypothetical tactical military expedition.Result: Greater neurological (LSC) complexity were found to be more adaptive & effective leaders in experimental scenario

PERSONALITY TRAITS & GENETICSLeader Fish Study(Nakayama et al., 2013)Individuals who force their preferences on others are more likely to be followed, which in turn encourages these individuals to initiate more often.

Fish: Three-spined sticklebacks (pairs) 10 pairs (20 fish)Role reversal experimentShy fish rewarded with small amount of food (collective movement)Bolder fish rewarded with small amount food (followed by other fish)Result: Shy fish could not be trained to lead, even when learnt to stop following the other fish, bolder fish readily adapted to follow.